French Revolution & Napoleon

Chpt 18.1

I Background to Revolution

  1. Fr Rev & the start of the new Amer. Nation both began 1789 – both big consequences
  2. Fr Rev – caused by long-range & immediate problems grounded in condition of Fr society which was based on inequality (like feudalism always had been)
  3. Fr – divided into 3 orders or estates-
  1. first – clergy made up of about 130,000 – they were exempt from the taille, the chief tax
  2. second – nobility comprised this group of about 350,000 – held positions of authority & had privileges- they wanted to take power away from monarchy
  3. third – the commoners was 98% of the population but divided based on: occupation, education, & wealth
  1. peasants were 75-80
  2. serfdom was abolished but they still had obligations to landlords (relics of feudalism) that they resented
  1. Artisans, shopkeepers, & other wage earners were also part of Third Estate
  1. hurting economically from prices rising higher than wages
  2. ready for a revolution
  1. bourgeoisie – this is the middle class, also part of the Third Estate – 8% of pop
  1. owned 20-25 % of land and were merchants, teachers, & other professionals
  2. unhappy about privileges given to nobility
  1. both aristocrats & middle class drawn to ideas of Enlightenment as necessary change needed for politics – their opposition to existing policies caused drastic action by the monarchy
  2. immediate cause of Fr Rev was the near collapse of the gov’ts finances
  1. Fr economy suffered a series of crises for 50 yrs
  2. The numbers who lived in absolute squalor reached as high as 1/3
  1. Fr monarch con’t to live in luxury & spend lavishly
  1. Queen – Marie Antoinette, was known for her extravagances
  2. King – Louis XVI – forced to call a meeting of Estates-General & Fr Parliament which had not met since 1614

II From Estates-General to National Assembly

  1. Each order of Fr society had representatives in Est-Gen
  1. priority was to fix the economic situation
  2. Third Est – wanted to set up a constitutional gov’t that would abolish tax exemptions of clergy & nobility
  1. Third Est – much larger than other two and favored a system of voting
  1. king upheld traditional method – ONE VOTE PER ESTATE!
  2. Feeling this was unfair, the Third Est called itself a Nat’l Assembly & decided to draft a constitution
  3. When the 3 est was locked out of their meeting place, they moved next door to a tennis court – they were determined to finish draft of constitution & called this: Tennis Court Oath
  1. commoners saved the 3rd est from king’s forces by storming the Bastille (royal armory & prison in Paris) – this caused Kg’s authority to collapse and chaos broke out all over Fr agst the landholding system
  2. Peasant rebellions took place and became part of : the Great Fear – a vast panic that hit Fr in 1789 – their grtst fear is that foreign troops would invade to support monarchy, so ppl formed militias

III the Destruction of the Old Regime

  1. Nat’l Assembly – one of 1st acts was to destroy relics of feudalism or aristocratic privileges
  1. August – adopted the Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen
  2. It proclaimed equal rights for all men, access to public office based on talent, and an end to exemptions from taxation
  3. All citizens were to have a right to take part in making of laws
  4. Freedom of speech and press were recognized
  1. Qst – does “all citizens” include women?
  1. some deputies said yes if women stayed out of politics
  2. Olympe de Gouges – would not accept women’s exclusion from political rights like voting
  1. she wrote a Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
  2. the Nat’l Assembly ignored her plea
  1. Louis XVI – stayed at Versailles and did not accept the laws of the Nat’l Assembly
  1. thousands of Parisian women armed w/ pitchforks, swords, muskets, & other weapons and marched to Versailles
  2. a delegation of women met w/ king to discuss how children were starving
  3. they forced kg to accept new decrees
  1. crowd insisted the royal family return to Paris, escorted by thousands of women carrying pikes
  1. kg thought he could appease them by bringing flour from personal storerooms
  2. royal family held prisoner in Paris
  1. Church, being pillar of old order, had to also be reformed
  1. Nat’l Assembly seized & held lands of the Church
  2. Bishops & priests were to be elected by ppl & paid by state
  3. B/c Fr gov’t now controlled Church, many Catholics became enemies of revol
  1. Assembly adopted Constitution 1791 – set up limited monarchy with a king & Legislative Assembly w/ power to make laws
  1. only most affluent members could be elected
  2. only men over 25 who paid a specified amount in taxes could vote
  1. 1791 – old order destroyed
  1. many ppl hurt by economic hard times still opposed new order
  2. King tried to flee Fr – ret’d to Fr
  3. Legislative Assembly met for 1st time 1791
  1. Other Eur monarchs, including AustriaPrussia, threatened to help Louis XVI
  1. in response, the Legisl Assembly declared war on Aust & Pruss
  2. when Fr lost battles w/ Aust, distrust grew in Fr
  1. defeats in war & econ shortages – led to new pol demonstrations
  1. radicals – formed Paris Commune & organized a mob attack on royal palace & Leg. Assembly
  2. they captured the kg & demanded an end to monarchy
  1. Fr Revol – about to become more radical
  1. power went to Paris Commune where they called themselves the sans-culottes or ordinary ppl w/out fancy clothes
  2. they were made up of working ppl and the poor, as well as merchants & artisans who were elite of their neighborhoods.

18.2

I The Move to Radicalism

  1. Georges Danton, minister of justice, lead sans-culottes to seek revenge on those who had aided king & resisted the popular will – THOUSANDS ARE ARRESTED & MASSACRED!
  2. Jean-Paul Marat, an impt radical leader, published a journal where he argued that the poor had a right to take from the rich whatever they needed, even by violence
  3. The Nat’l Convention met 1792 – acting as a constitutional convention & as a sovereign ruling body

1. first act – to end monarchy & est FrenchRepublic

2. disagreement over Kg’s fate – what to do, what to do?! Two factions of Jacobin political club:

  1. the UrbanMountain – behead him
  2. the Girondins – keep kg alive

3. kg is beheaded w/guillotine

  1. Fr – had other domestic problems – The Paris Commune wanted the convention to enact more and more radical measures, but much of Fr refused to accept this
  2. Foreign crisis loomed – execution of kg outraged Eur monarchies

1. Sp, Port, Brit & other monarchies formed a loose coalition to invade Fr

2. Fr responded – Nat’l Conv formed 12-member Committee of Public Safety taken over by Maximilien Robespierre

  1. Robespierre – a lawyer & activist known for his honesty was called “The Incorruptible” – he mainly followed Rousseau’s ideas of social contract – good of general public – those not adhering should be executed

II The Reign of Terror

A. 1793-1794 – Comm of Pub Saf & Nat’l Conv tried to defend Fr from foreign & domestic threats

1. at home – began REIGN OF TERROR

2. courts – prosecuted enemies of the revolution (40,000) killed

3. anyone opposing sans-culottes could be a victim

B. Revol armies sent to destroy rebellious cities

1. Lyon made an example along w/ 1,880 citizens executed as city destroyed

2. In Nantes, revol commander executed victims by sinking them in barges on LoireRiver

C. clergy & nobles – 15% of Terror’s victims – the rest bourgeoisie & peasants

D. Nat’l Conv – est mil school to train young men to be patriots

1. Thousands of recruits – supposed to have high moral standards & enthusiastic patriots

2. most just wanted to go home – so plan failed as these recruits began to turn agst revolutionaries

E. Comm – took other steps to control Fr & bring order – the new order, the Republic of Virtue formed

1. a democratic rep of good citiz

2. titles of “citizen” & “citizeness” replaced mister and Madame

3. agents – sent all over Fr to implement laws dealing w/ wartime emergency

4. comm. – also tried price controls on necessities, though they failed

F. women who convinced Louis XVI to return to Paris, stayed involved in revol

1. 1793 – 2 women founded the working-class Society for Revolutionary Republican Women & were ready to defend Fr

2 .most men cont’d to believe women should not participate in politics or fight

  1. to est an order built on reason, Nat’l Conv had a dechristianization policy

1. word saint removed from street signs & churches closed

2. cathedral of Notre Dame – rededicated to temple of reason

3. new calendar adopted starting w/ Sept 22, 1792 (start of Fr Rep not Christ’s birth)

4. calendar had 12 months of 3 weeks, ea containing 10 days – 10th day for rest – no Sundays

  1. Robespierre – realized how Fr was too Catholic for this

III A Nation in Arms

A. 1793 – Comm of Pub Saf called universal mobilization to save rep from foreign nations

1. 1794 – Fr had army of over 1 mill

2. pushed back all countries invading Fr to back across Rhine & conquered Austrian Netherlands

B. Fr Rev army – changed nature of modern warfare & was an impt step in creating modern nat’lism

1. previously, small armies fought wars b/w gov’ts & ruling dynasties

2. new Fr army was a ppl’s army fighting a ppl’s war on behalf of a ppl’s gov’t

3. warfare became more destructive

C. Fr had defeated its foreign foe by summer 1794

1. Robespierre became obsessed w/ ridding Fr of domestic enemies

2. only then could Rep of Virtue exist

3. many deputies feared Robespierre, so they executed him

D. after his death, terror ended and radical Jacobin lost power

IV The Directory

A. Nat’l Conv created new constitution reflecting desire for stability

1. Constit of 1795 est legisl assembly of 2 chambers – Council of 500 and Council of the Elders

2. Electors – chose the 750 legislators (only about 30,000 electors)

B. From a list presented by Council of 500 & Council of Elders elected 5 directors to act as executive committee or Directory

1. period of Directory (1795-1799) was one of corruption

2. ppl reacted agst Reign of Terror’s time of deprivation, & made fortunes from graft

C. The Directory – also faced pol enemies from both royalists & radicals – it could not solve country’s econ problems & was fighting wars begun by Comm of Pub Saf

D. The Directory was using more & more milit might to stay in power

1. 1799 a coup d’etat led by Napoleon Bonaparte toppled the Directory

2. Napoleon now takes power – sets up yet another form of gov’t

18.3

I The Rise of Napoleon

A. dominated Eur hist from 1799-1815 as he never stopped reminding them that he preserved what was beneficial from the Revol program

B. born – 1769 on isl of Corsica and went to milit school I Fr on royal scholarship where later in 1785 was commissioned as a lt. In Fr army

C. 7 yrs – educated himself in philosophy & world’s grt milit campaigns – where he applied what he learned during Fr Revol & Eur wars

D. by age 24, he was a brigadier gen by Comm of Pub Saf, and he won a series of victories agst Italy

E. his combination of intel, charm, wit, & decisiveness allowed him to win the support of his troops & other ppl

1. ret’d to Fr the conquering hero in 1797

2. his attempt to strike at Brit by taking Egypt & threatening India, failed – ret’d to Paris 1799

F. he took part in the coup to overthrow Directory

1. even though Fr was a rep, Nap held absolute power as the 1st consul of a new gov’t called the consulate

2. he appointed members of the bureaucracy, controlled army, conducted foreign affairs, & influenced the legisl

G. 1802, Napol made himself consul for life, and in 1804 he crowned himself Emperor Napoleon I

II Napoleon’s Domestic Policy

A. Did Napoleon preserve the ideals of the revolution & republic w/his domestic policies?

B. he made peace w/ Church to restore stability to Fr

1. he was more an Enlightenment believer of reason

2. made an agreement w/pope in 1801 to recognize Cath as the relg of most of Fr

3. pope gave up asking for church lands to be ret’d from the revol

4. with this, Nap could please both church & those who took lands

C. his most famous domestic achievement was codifying Fr laws – before Revol, Fr had up to 300 separate legal systems

D. most impt part of codes – Civil Code or Napoleonic Code – which recognized equality before the law, the right to choose a profession, religious toleration, & the end of serfdom and feudalism, BUT it outlawed unions & strikes

E. his Civil Code also undid revol changes, such as making a divorce easy for both men & women and allowing all children to inherit property

1. new law made it harder for women to divorce men – husbands cont’d property when married

2. women – considered minors in lawsuits and their testimony less reliable

  1. he devel a powerful, centralized administ – based promotions on ability – middle class could finally get gov’t jobs
  2. created a new aristocracy based on merit in state service – created more than 3,263 of them, more than ½ were milit officers from mid class
  3. Did Napol preserve the ideals of Fr Revol as he claimed?

1. by opening up civil service jobs to more ppl , he did preserve the ideals

2. however, he destroyed some ideals when he ruled as a despot & shut down 60 of 73 newspapers, allowing gov’t to view all before publication & having gov’t read mail

  1. Anne-Louise-Germaine de Stael – a prominent writer who at first supported then clashed w/ Nap –he had her exiled & her books banned when she denounced him a tyrant

III Napoleon’s Empire

  1. began his conquests soon after coming to power

1. first he achieved a peace treaty w/ nations warring w/ Fr after execution of kg

2. 1803, wars renewed – and his Grand Army defeated Aust, Rus, & Prus armies

  1. create a new world order – grand emp had 3 parts:

1. the French Empire

2. dependent states – kingdoms of Napol’s relatives (Sp, Hol, It, Grand Duchy of Warsaw)

3. allied states – those Nap defeated & forced them to fight agst Brit (Prus, Aust, Rus, & Swed)

  1. he hoped to spread ideals of Fr Rev throughout emp – urged rulers to be constitutional kgs
  2. tried to destroy feudal, hierarchical order in Fr Emp & his dependent states

1. nobility & clergy lost privileges, & equality of opportunity was declared, along w/relg toleration, & equality before law

2. this spreading of these ideals to these countries is impt factor in devel of liberal traditions

IV The European Response

  1. survival of Grt Brit and the force of nationalism are 2 main causes of quick collapse of Napol’s emp
  2. Brit survived b/c its sea power – defeated a FR-SP fleet at Trafalgar to end Nap’s dream of invading Brit
  3. He tried to use Continental system to defeat Brit – to keep Brit goods from reaching continental markets – but others resented being told they could not buy Brit goods – besides, Brit had new mkts in Lat Am
  4. Nationalism – spread by Fr in 2 ways as others sided agst them as the oppressors, and giving a picture of what a nation in arms could do

V The Fall of Napoleon

  1. began w/ his invasion of Russia which refused to go along with embargo
  2. 1812 – Grand Army of over 600,000 entered Russ

1. Nap needed to score a quick, decisive victory

2. Russ kept retreating, not fighting

3. Russ burned their own villages & even Moscow to deny Fr supplies

4. Nap forced to leave Moscow after 2 months w/out supplies – during Oct winter – called Great Retreat

5. less than 40,000 made it back to Poland

  1. other Eur nations got in on act to attack Fr while vulnerable

1. Paris captured in 1814

2. Nap exiled to Elba while Louis XVII (Louis XVI’s bro) took over & restored Bourbon monarchy

  1. Kg had little support, so Nap escaped - troops sent to arrest but instead troops rallied behind his return to Paris on March 20, 1815
  2. Nap (called the Enemy and Disturber of the Tranquility of the World) and Eur powers fought again- at Waterloo in Belgium 1815 where defeated by Wellington & exiled to St. Helena